PanAmSat has booked more than 15,000 hours of video transmission time for more than 15 global customers for the 2006 World Cup.

Taking place in Germany June 9 - July 9, the World Cup will be beamed around the world by PASport, PanAmSat's global broadcast services network. The company sees the event as a way to leverage its HDTV offerings on a global scale, according to PASport Broadcast Services vice president Catherine Palaia.

The PASport team will use nine satellites — PAS-1R, PAS-2, PAS-3R, PAS-4, PAS-8, PAS-9, PAS-12, Galaxy 3C and Galaxy 4R — to deliver 34 standard-definition channels and five high-definition channels of World Cup coverage. Through these satellites, PanAmSat will deliver the games to fans in the Americas, Europe, Asia, Australia and South Africa.

The FAA’s current rules and proposed ban on flight over people, requirement of visual line of sight and restriction on nighttime flying, effectively prohibit broadcasters from using UAS for newsgathering. ~ WMUR-TV General Manager Jeff Bartlett